Tuesday, July 26, 2005

Ottawa Citizen endorsing Operation Alberta Freedom.

As Ms. Cooper observes, there has been massive investment in Alberta's oilsands that hold an estimated 1.7 to 2.5 trillion barrels of oil, and are the world's biggest known reserve. This has not been lost on the energy-hungry Chinese. "Canada's oil production from the oilsands is on track to explode," she says.

ExxonMobil, which owns about 70 per cent of Imperial Oil, and is one of the most active oilsands players with a 25 per cent stake in the Syncrude mining project and the wholly owned Cold Lake heavy-oil project, is investing $3.5 billion U.S. to $5.5 billion U.S. in the Kearl oilsands project.

"This massive investment in the oilsands has not been lost on the Chinese, and investment will soar further over the next 10 years and more," says Mr. Cooper.

The Canadian Energy Research Institute (CERI) conservatively estimates that by 2015, the output from the oilsands will total some three million barrels per day, likely making Canada the world's second-largest oil exporter, behind Saudi Arabia.

"Investors would do well to consider the implications of Canada's natural bounty in a world where technological innovation is rapid and globalization accelerates the free flow of capital, labour and investment," says Ms. Cooper.

"The United States has clearly begun to see this picture. The global geopolitical implications are very important. Canada's role in the global economy and in the political sphere is about to increase dramatically in importance. It's nice to have a world-class bounty that the two largest economic powers desperately need."